Three arrested after firefight with Mounties

TOFIELD, Alta. - RCMP were questioning three suspects following a gun battle in which one Mountie was grazed by a bullet and another was run over by a stolen truck on a farm in a rural area east of Edmonton.

One of the suspects was wounded in the shootout Monday night before the three people were arrested by a police tactical team.

"It is unfortunate that this has come to this. I am just thankful that no lives were lost as a result of this — law enforcement or civilian," RCMP Chief Supt. Randy McInnis said Tuesday.

"I know there are families on both sides that were wondering what was going to happen."

Police say the Mountie who was run over suffered broken bones and internal injuries and was being treated in hospital.

McInnis described a chaotic scene in which officers exchanged gunfire with a man they described as their prime suspect while trying to move the badly wounded officer to safety.

"We applied some makeshift splints on his arms and legs, and then we carried him across a field to a waiting police truck so he could be taken to an ambulance that was staged down the road about a quarter of a mile."

McInnis said it all started when RCMP got a call in the afternoon complaining a man had threatened to go to a farmhouse with a handgun and kill someone.

RCMP from three detachments were called in and spread out over the county, looking for the suspect and checking with his known associates.

Then came a call from an area farmer, saying he had come home and found a man on his property.

After chasing him away, the farmer checked and realized three of his shotguns were missing.

McInnis said five officers had gone to a particular home on a farm between the communities of Vegreville and Tofield and were talking with the couple who lived there when all hell broke loose.

"As they were about to leave, the main suspect approached our members and an altercation occurred outside," said McInnis.

"This individual then jumped into the stolen truck and purposely drove over one of our members and then became stuck in the ditch or a snowbank.

"There was a gunfight between the truck and our members who were at various corners of this farmhouse. (The suspect) probably exited the truck when we were trying to get our injured members to the ambulance ... This is an excellent example of members doing what has to get done to save the life of a comrade."

McInnis said the couple who resided at the house were also taken into custody.

"Our interviews will determine what charges will be laid against all three," he said.

The superintendent said it has been frustrating in rural Alberta dealing with people involved in the drug trade who have undertaken a rash of thefts, stealing what they can so they can pay for their drugs.

Monday's incident couldn't help but remind him too of the March 2005 shooting in Mayerthorpe, where four RCMP constables were fatally shot after being ambushed by James Roszko at his farm where he ran a marijuana grow-op.

A somewhat emotional McInnis said he hopes this sends a message to the public.

"This is THEIR RCMP members that are out there doing this; I really want the Canadian public to know that," he stressed. "This is THEIR police that are putting their lives on the line to make sure they're safe in their beds."

In February 2012, two Mounties were also injured when they were shot while trying to deliver a warrant to a farmhouse near Killam, 160 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.